The Great Beauty
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Some films lend themselves to very easy summation, and others ... not so much.
Actually, after the opening five minutes of The Great Beauty, there is every chance you will be wondering what on earth this film has to do with the synopsis of an ''ageing writer in the midst of an existential crisis'', but therein lies the charm.
Jep Gambardella is a 65-year-old writer suffering not so much from writer's block, as a complete indifference to following up his first and only novel that he wrote in his 20s.
Like an Italian distillation of Californication's Hank Moody, just way more suave and sophisticated, Jep sashays around glamorous nightspots, pretentious parties and sordid strip joints with a lit cigarette permanently on the go and his handkerchief immaculate in his top pocket.
Indulging a never-ending roll call of vacuous socialites, the best part about Jep's witty approximations of the narrow world around him, is the way the various settings are portrayed on camera.
With each frame oozing colour, and scenes shot in stylised slow-mo to accentuate the hyper-reality of the moment, Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo) takes a pretty straightforward narrative and supercharges it.
As a portrait of Roman subculture and the multifarious collection of A-listers, wanna-bes and miscreants, The Great Beauty is very self-aware and awkwardly amusing at the same time.
If you sit back and bask in the splendour of the images and the quirky imagination behind them, then The Great Beauty does make a lot of sense.
Best thing: Jep's exquisitely tailored suits.
Worst thing: Feeling like no matter how film-savvy you are, there are homages here that you simply won't get.
See it with: An eye for detail and appreciation of sumptuous images.
